There seems to be a general assumption among Book of Mormon readers that when the Lehites’ ship landed, the Promised land was a desolate vista void of any civilizations or indigenous people. A more careful reading of the Book of Mormon gives several clues and indications that this was not the case.

The first recorded instance of Lehites interacting with external people is found in Jacob chapter 7, where we meet Sherem. Sherem is numbered among the villains and anti-Christs of the Book of Mormon, but if we carefully analyze the details of his story, we learn much more about him and his circumstances than we might initially expect.

A generally well known yet little explored detail about the Book of Mormon is that it contained a sealed portion. It is conventionally understood that the Book of Mormon came packaged with some material that the Saints were obviously not prepared to receive, and as such, we can only patiently wait for it to one day be revealed, but until then, we should leave the matter alone, and not speculate idly.

Idle speculation can indeed be counterproductive, but it might come as a surprise that the Book of Mormon actually contains a considerable amount of information regarding the contents, origin, and purpose of the sealed portion. The pedigree of what became the sealed portion can roughly be characterized as follows:

Little is known about the calendar used by the Nephites, but it is clear that they did classify their history based on years, months, and days. It is perhaps plausible that like many other agricultural societies, they used the lunar calendar (Coriantumr’s stay in Zarahemla was reportedly “nine moons.”) When the government of Zarahemla switched from a monarchy to a judicial system, the years came to be numbered according to the elapsed time under “the reign of the judges.” References to dates, months and years are sporadic, but we do get one clear look into some dramatic events that occured on new year’s eve between the 25th and 26th years of the reign of the judges.

One issue that often causes difficulty for readers of the Book of Mormon is the fact that several passages describe things that are out of context and chronology relative to its surrounding text. The prime example of this are the Words of Mormon (dated 385 A.D.), which are framed by the much older Books of Omni and Mosiah (both dated 130 B.C.). When the full picture of how the Book of Mormon was written and compiled is considered, it makes sense, but it nonetheless causes a confusing experience for a new reader.

It’s worth remembering that the Book of Mormon story is not a linear narrative; rather, it often tells multiple stories that occur simultaneously. One example of this is when Zeniff leaves Zarahemla to recolonize the Land of Nephi. His people’s story is found Mosiah chapters 9-22, and the parallel account of those who remained in Zarahemla (Mosiah, Benjamin, etc) is told in the early chapters of Mosiah. Because of their sequential displacement in the text, many readers fail to realize that King Benjamin’s Speech and the trial of Abinidi could plausibly have occurred at the same time.

When writing a story composed of multiple simultaneous accounts and parallel stories, telling one, then afterwards telling the other is inevitable. One of the goals of this website is to use the power of interactive media to present the stories in a format that makes it much easier to grasp the multi-dimensionality of the Book of Mormon narrative. Here some examples of this in practice: